Are there any safe, and effective, skin care products?

We have often been asked by our readers which products we recommend as being the best safe and effective skin care products available. In our view the natural skin care products from Xtend Life, a small New Zealand company, are the safest and best skin care products on the market, and this is where we explain why.

If you’ve read our website you’ll realise that there are risks to your health inherent in the use of many mainstream personal products. This isn’t just our view, it is the view of many experts. If you’ve not watched the video from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics then we suggest you watch it now, you can access it here.

There is a growing realisation amongst consumers and experts that we should not take the safety of our personal products for granted. There is also a realisation that in many cases our health and safety will not be protected by government or arms of government such as the FDA.

In particular it is clear that our government will not take steps to regulate this industry to require companies to use only recognised safe ingredients, and that in the absence of such regulation the major manufacturers of these products are not concerned for our health, but just for their profits.

Whilst for some this may be a shock for many it’s not. Clearly many major corporations are more concerned with making profit than they are with your health. The finest example of this is the cigarette companies, who manufacture a product that they know will kill you in most cases, however they continue to manufacture the product, despite this knowledge, as it is not illegal to do so, and they make huge profits doing so.However it is unfair to paint all companies with the same brush. There are many fine examples of high quality corporate citizens who put the interests of their customers in front of or alongside their own interests. In our view the fine New Zealand company called Xtend Life is one such company.

How did we form this view? We formed this view over time from a number of different sources. One of these is from the Xtend Life website itself, and in particular from a reading of the page describing the company’s skin care philosophy. We encourage you to read that page.

One of the statements making the biggest impact and describing the company’s commitment to the quality of its products is this one: “We instructed our research and development team to find the most effective ingredients, whatever the cost.” Because it is expensive to produce a quality product, and many of the big name players take shortcuts with the quality or quantity of ingredients to cut down the cost.

However merely producing a quality product, in other words a product that works well, is not adequate in our view. Given the history of the industry in producing products which may be harmful, it is equally important that along with product quality goes product safety. In the personal products industry product safety is absolutely crucial, as you may have gathered from reading our site.

However it is equally clear from reading the same page that Xtend Life has as much of a commitmentto product safety as to product quality. Just take this statement as an example: “Every time you apply a product to your skin, some of the active ingredients ultimately make their way into your blood stream. So you are effectively eating them. That’s why we insist every ingredient in our products is pure enough that you could safely eat it!”

Nothing could say it better.

However making statements such as these on a webpage is one thing, actually living up to them is another. You can tell your customers the products are safe and effective, but are they really?

The second reason we have found the company’s commitment to product quality and safety to be real is their commitment to providing the customer with a 100 percent no questions asked 12 month money back guarantee. We know that customers have, in the past, claimed on the guarantee, for a wide range of reasons including that they have just changed their minds from the purchase. And we also know that in all cases the company has honoured its guarantee and refunded the customer’s money.

That is putting your money where your mouth is. Just have a look at the website of any one of the major players in the cosmetics or skin care industry. You know the ones, you see their ads on TV all the time. Search carefully through the website to find a 100 percent no questions asked money back guarantee. We think you’ll find it difficult to track one down. Try asking one of these companies, 6 months after buying the product, if you can send it back for a full refund, opened and used. Good luck, and be prepared to be laughed at.

Xtend Life know that their products work, and are happy to offer the refund so that customers can try the products themselves without any risk.

The third reason that we recommend the natural skin care products from Xtend Life is that we have had personal dealings with many members of the company itself as well as the chairman Warren Matthews. We have found him to be a man of character and true to his word. We have formed the view that what he says, he does. In our view he really does have a personal commitment to producing the highest quality products that are comprised only of known safe and effective ingredients. We use the products ourselves.

At the end of the day however the only way that you can actually prove this to yourself is to try the products. That’s where the 100 percent money back guarantee comes in. Whilst you may be a little sceptical about many of the claims made for many of the big brand-name skin care products, you can safely try the natural skin care products of Xtend Life knowing that they really do back up their products with a full guarantee. And we can tell you that the guarantee is real, and not commonly claimed.

However there is one other problem in the industry. Because of the proliferation of advertising offering unrealistic results there is an expectation amongst some women that many skin care products are almost as good as cosmetic surgery. Whilst this is not intended in any way to plug the benefits of cosmetic surgery, (we would never even consider it) there is no doubt that cosmetic surgery can produce a very quick result. (But over the long term, that is an entirely different matter).

If you believe the advertising for many skin care products then you’ll believe that you’ll get a quick and stunning result from using them. However the reality is a little different, and therefore customers should understand that getting a good result from the highest quality skin care products takes time, and certainly won’t make you look 40 years younger.

It’s unrealistic for a 60 year old woman to try and look like a 20-year-old, regardless of what the advertising says. You should understand that a good result from your skin care products is an improvement in your skin health and looks, but it is not turning you back into a 20-year-old.

So we urge you, whatever skin care products you choose, to have realistic expectations and be prepared to spend some time using the products before expecting a visible result.

The best nature skin care products are safe to use and fully guaranteed

Did you realise that in the US there is almost no regulation governing what ingredients go into skin care products? Did you realise that the FDA is not required to approve skin care products before they go on the market, and that any company that manufactures products that go on your skin, including cosmetics, can put virtually any ingredient that they want into the product?

And given the history of big business in the US, are you confident that these companies would only use safe ingredients in their products, despite the fact that there are many extremely hazardous ingredients which may be put into skin care products legally?

No we have no confidence either that the massive companies producing so many of the skin care products you see on the shelves today have a sufficient commitment to their customers that they wouldn’t do anything that might endanger their health.

That’s why we are so keen suggest that you use high quality nature skin care products rather than the big brands. That’s because there is ample evidence that there are some toxic ingredients in so many of the big brands. Just have a look at several of those toxic ingredients, though there’s many many examples, and if you’d like to find out more go to the Cosmetic Safety Database where you can spend some time reading more, or even searching out individual products or manufacturers to find out exactly what’s in those products and what the risk is to your health.

Lets look at a few examples.

1. Fragrances are wonderful things. Everybody likes to smell good, and what’s wrong with smelling good? Everyone assumes that a nice fragrance is distilled from roses or something like that. Sadly that is far from the truth. Most fragrances are simply synthetic chemicals manufactured in a laboratory, and many contain ingredients which can damage your health.

Lets do a search at the Cosmetic Safety Database and see what it tells us about fragrances. You’ll see that fragrance is listed with a hazard score of 8 on a scale of 8 to 10 of hazard.

As you can see from the page fragrances can be linked to neurotoxicity, allergies, immunotoxicity and more. And you will see that there are 934 studies in the Pubmed science library referencing the toxicity of fragrances.

Unfortunately a fragrance is just a chemical, sometimes completely harmless, sometimes not. And sadly there are no regulations requiring companies that manufacture skin care products, or many other products that contain fragrances, to list the chemical ingredients of a fragrance. Usually all you see is “fragrance” on the label.

2. 1,4 Dioxane. This is a known carcinogen and is a byproduct of various industrial processes, and may, or may not, be found in many products. Use the search at the Cosmetic Database we you can see the risks from 1,4 Dioxane. They include the risk of cancer as well as much more. And you can see the link to products which may contain 1,4 Dioxane.

3. Parabens. Parabens are a class of preservative that are used in many skin care products. Search at the Cosmetics Database. Click on Propylparaben and you’ll see that it is linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity and immunotoxicity. It can be found in more than 8000 products. Sadly although there are many natural preservatives which work effectively parabens are much cheaper than the natural alternatives, and so are more commonly used.

Hopefully you’re beginning to get the picture, namely that the cosmetics and skin care industries are not regulated, and the companies that manufacture the products can put pretty much whatever they want into those products, and they do, notwithstanding that many of these ingredients are dangerous.

Nature skin care products, or at least the very best nature skin care products, are manufactured only with ingredients sourced from natural sources such as plants, and which are known to be safe to people.

The company that makes the best natural skin care productsdemonstrates its commitment to the safety of it’s customers by undertaking to only use ingredients which are “safe enough to eat”. In other words they put the health of their customers first.

If all of the above comes as a bit of a shock to you then it’s time for you to spend a little time researching, there’s plenty of information on the Internet about the dangers of many mainstream brands of skin care products, cosmetics and much much more.

And make sure you use high quality nature skin care products the next time you buy your skin care products. Not only are they much safer they are also more effective than the big brand names, and they are backed up with a full money back guarantee so you can try the products risk free and satisfy yourself about the quality of the products yourself.

Are Anti Wrinkle Night Creams dangerous? Surely not?

Anti wrinkle night creams. There’s quite a few around and it can be a little confusing trying to work out how to choose a good wrinkle night cream from amongst all those available.

Lets have a look at night creams, what to look out for, what to look for, and why you should be extremely careful in your choice.

If you’ve read much of our website you will know that many mainstream skin care and anti aging products contain ingredients which may well be harmful to your skin and to your health. If this is news to you then by all means spend some time browsing our website.

Unfortunately all the same concerns that apply to a wide range of other skin care products also apply to night creams, and those that are often promoted as the best night cream available may in fact be harmful, including some big names.

Lets consider the Avon Solutions Complete Balance Night Cream. This is a product promoted as a moisturiser and skin care product for people with “combination” skin, or in other words not always dry and not always oily.

Search that product at the Cosmetic Safety Database and you’ll find that on a hazard score from 0 to 10, where 10 equals the highest hazard, this product scores and 8/10, meaning that it is considered by the Cosmetic Safety Database to offer a high health hazard. According to the database concerns include links to cancer and reproductive toxicity, allergies, neurotoxicity and much more.

And if you read the page further you will find a list of the individual ingredients that, in the opinion of those running the database, lead to this score. First amongst them is fragrance, which is scored as an 8/10 for hazard. Note that the database also indicate the presence of a data gap, meaning that not all the data that is necessary is available. This is normal, as the companies that make these products will readily supply data on these products to the Database.

Thats the bad of Anti Wrinkle Night Creams. Many may contain ingredients that can potentially damage your health. So where’s the good?

The good news is that there are excellent natural ingredients which can work extremely well to combat wrinkles and to tackle a range of other skin problems that result from ageing. Many of these natural ingredients are highly effective, are safe to use on your skin and have been eaten by generations of people. They just happen to be very good at promoting optimum skin care.

However in most cases these ingredients are not used in mainstream products because it is usually much cheaper and easier to use chemical alternatives.

Some examples are Avocado oil, Macadamia Nut oil, Manuka honey, Shea butter and much more. All of these are safe and highly effective producing high quality skin care.

Despite the fact that some companies prefer to use chemical ingredients in their anti aging products, including night creams, there is a handful of companies making high quality natural skin care products that make use of ingredients such as these to produce high-quality anti aging products, including effective anti wrinkle night creams, using all safe and effective ingredients.

Our preference is the Restorative Night Cream from Xtend Life, an excellent New Zealand company that manufactures high quality natural skin care products. This night cream is, in our view, the best night cream available on the market, meaning that it is not only effective to use but also safe to use.

The active ingredients are targeted at improving the levels of collagen and elastin in the skin, reducing the actions of free radicals as well as helping maintain levels of beneficial enzymes in your skin.

Studies have shown that these ingredients are highly effective.

So if you’ve been looking for the best anti wrinkle night cream and why not give the Restorative Night Cream from Xtend Life a try. Believe it or not they actually offer a 90 day money back guarantee on all of their skin care products.